Already owned L1800 (change inks in it) or sell it and buy L8180 (8550)

[AmaDeuSbg]

I must admit that I'm a kind of lost what the main question still is of this thread or remains - we discussed a lot already about inks and printers .

My L1800 is gone since a while, print output is the same as with the L805 as an A4 printer - 6 inks incl. light inks which the L8550 does not have. The L8550 comes with 2 blacks and a gray instead which makes it more flexible in my eyes when it comes to B/W printing. All these printers run with a min. droplet size of 1.5 pl which does not create any visible noise in monochrome dithered areas.

I was using an Pro7600 24" since almost 20 years which was running wtih light inks, 2 blacks and a gray , I replaced this printer with an Epson SC-T2100, as well a 24" printer with 4 colors and cartridges as well. I reported in detail my detour to a Canon TC-20 as a comparable 24" printer as a tank system model. These printers make it easy to upgrade to a larger format in case of interest.
These printers - and all other units for this format and larger - print with 4pl/Epson or 5pl/Canon which creates a slight granularity at very close viewing distance , but you are not printing 4x6" photos on such printer - you need to consider a wider viewing distance. But even so prints with these printers look very good, and slightly better than with my old P7600. And it should be clear that the gamut of a 4 c olor printer does not match the gamut of other high-end 10 - 12 ink printer units for which you pay more - much more. These printers are entry level units and are not advertised at all as photo printers by Canon or Epson. And the look of a print does not just depends on the number of inks but very much on the type and quality or the paper - the gamut can vary widely between different papers.

The ET-8550 offers some more functionality - with a scanner and 2 black and a gray ink .

P.S. I'm not aware of any problems with private messages - I wouldn't know how to test it.

I'm doing refill into the original cartridges, and you need new chips which are one-time chips only and pretty expensive and only available via Aliexpress, I'm not aware of a resetter at this time.
The Canon TC-20 is a tank system printer and is easier to handle in this refill aspect than the T2100/3100. But if there are more questions about the T2100 please open a separate thread.

Hello again,

Thank you for your time and your detailed responses and please excuse me if I was not clear with my posts - I was just curious if you maybe still had the L1800 and compared it directly to the L8180.

For now I decided to keep the L1800 and put the SL-D500 inks in it and invest the extra cash for a bigger machine (P900 or the budget SC-T2100). It is too bad that there are still no auto reset refills for the T2100. I saw that the P900 worked with the chip resetter which is great but initial cost of the printer + the many more cartridges and chips will sky rock the price compared to the T2100 so we will see (although for neutral B&W the P900 will be great and fill that gap where the L1800 runs short).

I will stay away from Canon, I saw that you were not really pleased with it in one of your other threads and will stick to Epson. I will be surely posting a new thread when the purchase of the bigger machine is close (probably next month or in December.

One more thing - because the L1800 is currently running its stock inks - I will have to drain them out (from tanks and dampers) but I wondered if I need to use a cleaning liquid of some sort to purge the residue from the ink in the tubes etc or I shall just pour the SL-500? I am aware that the residue will be less than 1-2ml in each channel probably but just wonder what will be the best approach.

Best Wishes

Recomendaria cambiarte a la 8180, como lo hice el año pasado, la velocidad de impresión y la calidad es notoria. El rendimiento de las tintas originales T555 de la L8180 es muy buena.

Thank you, I appreciate the response. I am aware of the ink codes in my country but I will probably go for the SL-D500 inks because they are not that much more expensive and are full set comparable to the L1800 in colors. L8180 is great, I wish I didn't have the L1800 because that would have made the dilemma much easier and just for for the L8180

Best Wishes

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

There are a few more details of the T2100 in respect to refilling, chips etc I would need to cover - now after some time of practice.

 

[AmaDeuSbg]

There are a few more details of the T2100 in respect to refilling, chips etc I would need to cover - now after some time of practice.

I will keep an eye out for the thread, when you start one, regarding the T2100

 

[AmaDeuSbg]

Hey,

Just a little update on my journey with the L1800 because I forgot to post. I am using the L1800 with the 106 inks for the CMYK and T54C for LM LC for like an year now and the printer is working great. I noticed that the Y is generally stronger on the 106 inks and after profiling with my colormunki I can say that it is performing great.